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Abstract

Planets for Man was written at the height of the space race, a few years before the first moon landing, when it was assumed that in the not-too-distant future human beings “will be able to travel the vast distances to other stars.” The authors propose to determine — on the basis of then-current biological and cosmological knowledge — whether there are other worlds where humans can survive or where human life may even now be flourishing. This volume, co-authored by RAND researcher Stephen Dole and science fiction master Isaac Asimov, certainly one of the more unusual co-authorships in RAND’s long history of research and publishing, it was based on a more technical treatise authored by Dole, Habitable Planets for Man. More than forty years after its initial publication, and to celebrate RAND’s 60th Anniversary, RAND is proud to bring this classic work back into print in paperback and digital formats.

Table of Contents

Chapter One

The Coming Search

Chapter Two

Human Requirements

Chapter Three

The Properties of Planets

Chapter Four

Planetary Habitability

Chapter Five

Probability of Habitable Planets

Chapter Six

The Nearest Candidates

Chapter Seven

Star Hopping

Chapter Eight

An Appreciation of the Earth

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